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How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!


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Steamed Chicken (Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to a very easy, delicious and healthy recipe called Mushi-dori (Steamed Chicken). You can use this steamed chicken as an ingredients in your salad, soup, noodles, and so on. Of course, you can also eat it as dish by itself and goes well with any kind of sauce.

This is a popular Japanese dish. Also, it is similar to Chinese and Thai steamed chicken, although the seasonings are different.

For this dish I recommend using chicken breast because of texture, flavor and health benefits.

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I steam the chicken breast with ginger and cooking Sake. Ginger is very nutritious and healthy. It helps our blood flow, helps speed up our metabolism, and blocks the oxidation process in our bodies. Also, ginger is very flavorful and helps rid the meat of its chicken smell.

Also, in this recipe I show you a famous sauce for steamed chicken called Goma-dare (Sesame sauce). You can also use this sauce for Shabu-Shabu (boiled, thinly sliced beef).

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This is White Roasted Sesame Seeds I used in this recipe.

Sesame is also very nutritious. It is high in minerals, vitamins, fiber and protein. The most important ingredient in sesame is Lignan which is an antioxidant. Lignan helps liver function and cholesterol depletion. It is good for our health to take 1 Tbsp. of sesame per day.


{Ingredients (Serves 2)}
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1 lb. Chicken Breast

¼ cup Cooking Sake

¼ cup water

1 tsp. grated ginger

[Sauce]

1 Tbsp. leftover juice of chicken

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Miso Soyabean Paste

1 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

1 Tbsp. White Roasted Sesame Seeds

½ Tbsp. Pure Sesame Oil


Here is my recipe in PDF: Steamed Chicken


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Seasoned Rice with Vegetables (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to Takikomi Gohan which is seasoned rice with vegetables. It has a similar taste to fried rice, but it is steamed so a lot healthier. You can add vegetables (preferably root vegetables), shellfish, and/or chicken, and seasoning to the rice and cook just like cooking white rice.

The basic arrangement for many Japanese meals is called “Ichi-juu, San-sai”, and consists of one bowl of cooked rice, one kind of soup, and three vegetable or fish side dishes. Takikomi Gohan includes rice and some vegetables or fish so it is a fuss-free dish to help arrange Ichi-jiru, San-sai. And, or course, it just plain delicious! Also steamed rice absorbs the Umami of the ingredients so it is very nutritious and delicious!!

We sometimes have Takikomi Gohan as a Bento (boxed lunch) because it is tasty even when it is cold.

This time I use Shiitake mushroom, Daikon, Carrot and Snow pea with Kelp Dashi stock. So it has lots of vitamins, minerals, carotene and fucoidan. Dried Shiitake mushroom has vitamin D so we might want to eat winter time which has short sunshine hours.


{Ingredients (for 2 people)}
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・2 cups Premium Rice, Medium Grain

・3 pieces Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

・1 cup Water (leftover from soaking Shiitake)

・1 ½ cups Tap Water (Depends on amount of rice being soaked)

・2 inches round, sliced Daikon (Japanese white radish)

・1 Carrot

・10 pieces Snow peas

・4 inches × 4 inches sheet of Dashi Dried Kelp

・4 tablespoons Cooking Sake

・4 tablespoons Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

・4 tablespoons Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine


Here is my recipe in PDF: Seasoned Rice


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Simmered Japanese White Radish (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Japanese use Daikon (Japanese white radish) for many dishes. Daikon is high in water, vitamin C and vitamin A, and is a low calorie ingredient. Daikon helps digestion so we sometimes eat fish or meat with grated daikon.

Today I will introduce “Simmered Daikon”.  This dish is really easy to cook and delicious! It is one of the best dishes in my mother’s recipes. It is called “Daikon no taitan” just in the Kyoto area (Kansai region) of Japan, so this dish is one representative of Kyoto.


{Ingredients (For 2 people)}
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Daikon (Japanese white radish)

2 ½ cups Kelp Dashi stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

2 tablespoons Cooking Sake

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

1 tablespoons Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine


Here is my recipe in PDF: Simmered Japanese white radish

Here is “Kelp Dashi Stock” recipe in PDF: Kelp Dashi stock


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Homemade Kelp Dashi stock / Salted Kelp (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today I will show you how to cook “Kelp Dashi stock”.

Kelp is very nutritious and delicious when prepared correctly. It is low calorie, high in iodine, minerals, and fucoidan. It is good for making your skin smooth, hair and nails strong, and also helps to treat constipation. It is also a great food for people on diets. It is good for our health.

Significantly, while Kelp is gooey and chewy, because of its nutritional elements and fucoidan, Kelp dashi stock is not gooey and doesn’t have a strong smell so you can use it for many dishes.

I introduced “Anchovy Dashi stock” before. These two dashi stocks differ in taste and flavor. We use Anchovy Dashi stock when we want a stronger fish taste in dishes. On the other hand Kelp Dashi stock is usually used for dishes which we want to enjoy the individual tastes of ingredients such as vegetables, fish and so on. Of course, it is good for vegetarians and people who don’t like Anchovy Dashi stock smell.

We usually use the kelp for other dishes after we cook Dashi stock. This time I will use the leftover kelp to introduce a side dish which we call “Shio Konbu (Salted Kelp)”. Japanese usually eat it with cooked white rice. Shio Konbu is also great in your salad. It makes your salad more nutritious, healthy and delicious!!


{Ingredients (for Dashi Stock)}
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2 pieces (4 inches×4 inches) Dried kelp
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp

5 cups water

{Ingredients (for side dish Salted Kelp)}

1/2 cup Water

2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

1 tsp. Rice Vinegar


Here is my recipe in PDF: Kelp Dashi stock/ Salted Kelp